Notes and Editorial Reviews
Beginning in 1706 Handel famously--and fortunately--spent a fruitful four years in Italy during which he refined his composing craft and created an amazing catalog of works (some masterpieces) that for years afterward he cleverly mined for melodic material that he used in various operas and oratorios. Anyone who heard the premieres of the three cantatas featured here would have had no doubt that this was the work of a dramatic genius who also possessed a unique gift for melody that proved unequalled by most and surpassed by none. The subjects of these works--favored stories of myth and legend, lovers, heroes, and villains--are mostly irrelevant. It's the music and its dramatic setting and scope that counts--and Handel is the consummate
Read more
master, giving the sole singer, in this case Czech mezzo Magdalena Koená, an enormously challenging, wide-ranging stage on which to play out her characters.
Koená is terrific, her slightly quivering but eminently expressive voice supported by captivating theatrical technique. She nails the often difficult vocal passages while really giving us a sense of who is singing and what she is singing about, from the desperate lover in Delirio amoroso to the ravaged and doomed wife in La Lucrezia to the hopeless soul "playing with fire" in Tra le fiamme. Anyone familiar with Handel's vocal music will recognize--or at least
think he recognizes--several of the arias, including "Per te lasciai la luce" from Delirio amoroso, which Koená claims as her own in a breathtaking, heart-stopping performance. Other citations for outstanding performances must go to violinist Anton Steck (give this guy a recording contract!) and to Marc Minkowski and his Les Musiciens du Louvre for their ideal accompaniment in some very difficult and tricky music. My only criticism is the unnecessarily fast tempo in Koená's final Delirio amoroso aria--a shade slower and she actually would sound in control and comfortable. The sound is just a bit covered, but it begins to bloom with a slight upward adjustment in volume.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Da quel giorno fatale, HWV 99 "Il delirio amoroso" by George Frideric Handel
Performer:
Balázs Maté (Cello),
Anton Steck (Violin),
Yann Miriel (Oboe),
Magdalena Kozená (Mezzo Soprano),
Sébastien Marq (Recorder)
Conductor:
Marc Minkowski
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Period: Baroque
Written: circa 1707-1710; Italy
Date of Recording: 12/1999
Venue: Live Olivier Messiaen Hall, Paris, France
Length: 34 Minutes 17 Secs.
Language: Italian
2.
Oh numi eterni, HWV 145 "La Lucrezia" by George Frideric Handel
Performer:
Mirella Giardelli (Organ),
Magdalena Kozená (Mezzo Soprano),
Michel Maldonado (Double Bass),
Jean-Louis Fiat (Bassoon),
Juan Manuel Quintana (Bass Viola da gamba),
Dolores Costoyas (Lute),
Pascal Monteilhet (Theorbo),
Dolores Costoyas (Guitar),
Balázs Maté (Cello),
Mirella Giardelli (Harpsichord)
Conductor:
Marc Minkowski
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1709; Italy
Date of Recording: 12/1999
Venue: Live Olivier Messiaen Hall, Paris, France
Length: 17 Minutes 5 Secs.
Language: Italian
3.
Tra le fiamme, HWV 170 by George Frideric Handel
Performer:
Magdalena Kozená (Mezzo Soprano),
Juan Manuel Quintana (Bass Viola da gamba)
Conductor:
Marc Minkowski
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Period: Baroque
Written: Italy
Date of Recording: 12/1999
Venue: Live Olivier Messiaen Hall, Paris, France
Length: 16 Minutes 15 Secs.
Language: Italian
Customer Reviews
Be the first to review this title
Review This Title
